


baby, just don't move.

by wipedout



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 20:16:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15937511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wipedout/pseuds/wipedout
Summary: jaemin is nervous to emcee for the first time but luckily he has a friend to ease his worry.





	baby, just don't move.

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first fic i've ever posted on ao3 and i'm so excited!! i got this idea when i watched a video of jaemin and haechan backstage before emceeing at the m super concert so i decided to write about it. i hope you enjoy!

They give Jaemin a weird tie. Well, it isn’t really a tie per se, just this strange, ribbon-like piece of fabric knotted securely around the collar of his dress shirt. He doesn’t find it ugly, but it certainly is uncomfortable. One of the stylists scolds him every time he fidgets with it. This makes his managers laugh but it makes Jaemin more uneasy than he was before. 

The uneasiness in Jaemin’s stomach grows intense once they start walking to the stage. His tie is long forgotten but now he and Donghyuck are trapped in a crowd of people, managers and stylists and people with headsets shouting orders to people who must be across the arena. Jaemin glances over at his friend, who’s staring down at his shoes as they make their way to the stage. Tonight they will emcee together, making it Jaemin’s first time with only one person to join him. The thought of being on stage doesn’t make him nervous, he’s a performer after all, but he’d be lying if he said he isn’t a little worried. He just doesn’t want to mess up, is all. They didn’t have much time to practice their lines beforehand, and now his cue cards are somewhere around here, being held in someone else’s hands. Jaemin looks down at his dress shoes then sees that they’ve somehow come untied and _thank fucking God,_ he thinks. He quickly looks around him and starts shoving his way between people, mumbling _excuse me, excuse me_ until he is able to escape them all. The security guards eye him but keep walking anyway. Jaemin takes a deep breath and wipes the sweat on his brow, bending down to tie his shoe.

Before long there’s a shadow looming above him, and Jaemin prays to every God there is that it’s not one of the managers telling him not to fall behind. He looks up and Donghyuck is there standing over him with his hands at his sides. He smiles down at Jaemin sympathetically which makes Jaemin visibly relax. 

“I saw that your shoes were untied but I decided not to tell you. I kind of hoped you’d trip.” Donghyuck says jokingly, staring down at Jaemin with eyes full of joy. Jaemin rolls his own in annoyance, he should have known better than to think Donghyuck would’ve said anything that wasn’t dripping with sarcasm. Donghyuck looks proud of himself though, so Jaemin ignores the remark.

“There were too many people.” Jaemin states simply but he knows that Donghyuck will get the idea. 

Donghyuck crouches down to replace Jaemin’s hands with his own, tying the laces for him while Jaemin just kneels there with his hands on his knees. Donghyuck smells like cologne and Jaemin scans over his features briefly. He seems so calm, Jaemin wishes he felt that confident and relaxed all the time. “Are you nervous?” Donghyuck asks like he already knows the answer. 

“Nervous is all I am right now.” Jaemin says with a little laugh, “This is the first time I’ve done something like this. I’m afraid to mess up.”

Donghyuck finishes and looks up at Jaemin triumphantly. The sun is setting and the sky is this pretty mix of orange and pink. The boys stay like that, crouched in front of each other behind the stage. Away from the cameras and the managers and the make-up artists. They savor the moment together privately. 

“That’s natural,” Donghyuck tells Jaemin, reaching out to pat his cheek gently. Jaemin leans into the touch with a grin. Donghyuck drags his thumb over the apple of Jaemin’s cheek, but his hand leaves as quickly as it came. “I get nervous too, you know. But I’ll be right next to you, so it shouldn’t be that bad.”

“Five minutes! Five minutes!” someone shouts from behind Donghyuck. There’s urgency in her voice and in the words themselves but the boys feel far removed from all of it. 

“You’re right,” Jaemin says

“Aren’t I always?”

“ _God_ , no.”

They both laugh cheerfully and quietly between themselves like children, but that is what they are, Jaemin supposes, they’re children stuck in a fast-paced, adult world all because of a dream, a talent, a wish for something bigger than themselves. The constant rushing in their lives made moments like these more valuable than anything else.

“We need to get going. Don’t worry too much, okay? You’re handsome and you have pink hair now. So it doesn’t matter what you do because you’ll still be cute as a button.”

They’re standing now, not quite eye to eye —Jaemin was slightly taller and he would never let Donghyuck forget it— but close enough. Jaemin bites back a bashful grin, looking away to avoid Donghyuck’s searching eyes. People complimented him about his looks often, but something felt different about hearing it from Donghyuck. Jaemin couldn’t pinpoint the reason if he tried. Perhaps he has a little crush on him. There’s no way of knowing.

“I’m going to hug you,” Jaemin says instead of a thank you. He’s already opening his arms before Donghyuck can even protest, even though he whines a little to feign annoyance. Jaemin wraps his arms around Donghyuck’s shoulders as Donghyuck settles his around Jaemin’s waist, the front of their bodies pressed together. They hold each other firmly and waddle back and forth in each other's arms to the point of laughter. They probably have three minutes now. Or less.

Donghyuck pulls back first, meeting Jaemin’s eyes and keeping him there, entranced. His dark irises are sure but pensive, and Jaemin has trouble trying to decipher what he’s thinking. Donghyuck holds onto Jaemin’s slim waist as the younger boy drops his arms down awkwardly at his sides. Donghyuck then spares a glance just behind himself, across and over the stage and then behind Jaemin. 

What happens next takes all of five seconds. Donghyuck removes his hands from Jaemin’s torso, places them on each of his cheeks and leans into his space. Jaemin only has a split second to react and all he can do is gasp just before Donghyuck presses their lips softly together. The kiss they share is gentle and fleeting. Donghyuck pulls back shortly but Jaemin chases after him, and their second kiss isn’t even a real one, they just smile against each other like they can’t help it. Jaemin only thinks about the recklessness of it all once Donghyuck has stepped far enough away from him to see the glimmer of the setting sun shining in his deep brown eyes. Jaemin blinks absently at Donghyuck with this subconscious, lopsided grin on his face.

“Haechan—” 

“I just didn’t want you to be so nervous.” Donghyuck rushes out before Jaemin can even finish his sentence. Suddenly he can’t remember what he was trying to say. Donghyuck is gorgeous and bathed in fluorescent purple tones from the stage lights, the sunset acting as the perfect backdrop to his soft features.

“So...I’m meant to pretend that you did that for my sake and not for your own?” Jaemin quips.

“Oh my god, shut up!”

They’re both giggling but there’s something heavy hiding behind their smiles, they’d have to talk about it soon, but not now. RIght now it’s too good. 

“Your lip color is smudged,” Donghyuck says, breaking the laughter.

“So is yours.”

“We should get it fixed.” 

“Yeah,” Jaemin says, nodding.

Donghyuck echoes him, “Yeah…”

They shuffle off to the buzzing group of people shouting orders into headsets and flying around like worker bees. The makeup stylist eyes them suspiciously when they request to have their lip color touched up, but she obliges only because there is so little time left.

Soon the two of them are on top of the stage, cue cards and microphones in hand, all they’re waiting for is for someone, anyone to give them the signal to walk to the middle of the stage and get things started.

They’ll begin any second now. Jaemin feels energized and giddy all over. The fuzzy feeling circulates through his body like an electrical current, and he’s not sure where this burst of confidence came from (he has an idea though). It’s nice and it’s warm, just like the way Donghyuck’s arm feels pressed against his own as they wait backstage. Once they take center stage, it is only them and the crowd, nothing else seems to matter. Jaemin can’t even bring himself to worry about stumbling or messing up. Donghyuck is right beside him; brave, gorgeous, eccentric Donghyuck, with his pink and blue highlights and gentle honey voice. The crowd hollers wildly at the sight of them, and Jaemin smiles brightly, straightening out his back and looking out across the vast blackness. The audience loves him and it’s perfect.


End file.
